Radiologists in India need to value their main product: The Report

Running a teleradiology firm
is not easy in India. It is not just about lesser per case remuneration.

Because of two basic reasons. One in India we are doing
mass health check up or lung screenings. People come to the Doctor when they
are sick and we anyhow have a higher positivity rate in the radiology
departments. Plus to add to it, there is
always an element of “cherry picking” and by chance the “odd case” goes to the
teleradiologists. We hardly get a normal
MRI brain in our network. We get cases which are out of routine.

To add to it our reports are under a stricter
scrutiny all the time. Threat of losing
the contract is always there. And I have always felt that a different set of
quality parameters are applied to teleradiology as compared to routine
reporting.

Hence, I always tell my
team, to create quality report with good clinically relevant impression and
limited differentials. We have to be on
the “top” of our games always. Report
is our main product as a radiologist and if you are practicing teleradiology
this report needs to be the showcase of your quality. Teleradiology converts Radiology practice into
commodity and the product is report. Somehow, I feel our residency training in
India, focuses more on identifying findings and theory, but how to integrate it
into a report which is acceptable in practice, is missing.

And the only way the
radiologists learn is, on the job, but sometimes the clients may not give you enough
time.

About Dr. Sumer Sethi

Number of Entries : 35

Unique blend of academic excellence and entrepreneurship, heading leading firms in India- Teleradiology Providers, pioneering company providing teleradiology services and DAMS (Delhi Academy of Medical Sciences) Premier test preparation institute in India for MD/MS/MCI preparation. He has also been an invited faculty member at various conferences, including Teleradiology in IRIA 2008 and 2011, Hospital Build Middle East, Congress of the Brain Tumor Radiology in Neuro-oncology Society. Dr. Sethi is Editor-in-Chief of Internet Journal of Radiology. He has a keen interest in Web 2.0 technologies and in maintaining his famous radiology blog, which has been featured in multiple international journals.

Teleradiology

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

so what is that has to be done to change this?? how is it that residents can write better reports?? is there a solution to this problem???